The Giver Review

Lois Lowry's book The Giver was one of my favorite books from elementary school. Its original plot of a dystopia with rules of sameness and theme of embracing what life has in store still has impact after years of reading it. The book must have impacted Jeff Bridges as well, because for many years he has wanted to make the book a movie with his father as The Giver. Unfortunately, many studios did not want to touch the book until now when YA novels are becoming a strong trend in Hollywood. They hired Phillip Noyce (Salt and Rabbit Proof Fence) to direct and the famous Weinstein Brothers (The King's Speech) to produce. I was happy for an adaptation until the first trailer came out where I was starting to get hesitant because it looked like it was trying to please fans of The Divergent Series and Hunger Games rather than pleasing fans of the book. I still had hope, and after watching the film I can happily say that fans of the book will be more than pleased with this adaptation, even though it does have a strong fatal flaw.

The performances in this film were surprisingly strong. Jeff Bridges was fantastic as The Giver, he embodied exactly how I envisioned The Giver in the book: a kind, protective, and peaceful old man who wants this community to see the truth. The real surprise in this film is Brenton Thwaites. He plays Jonas with strong naivety and you feel with his character's changes throughout the film perfectly. Thwaites has been in minor roles in many films this year, including a wasted performance in Maleficent, but his performance here proves his talent and he deserves bigger roles in the future. The rest of the cast does well too, even though some of them were heavily advertised but were not in the film very long. But regardless, everyone plays their parts well.

The visual effects are the strong point in this film. The film starts in black and white, since the community cannot see color. But as Jonas gains memories and starts to see color, the film blends black and white with these colors. The finished product looks stunning because of this effect and it goes to show Hollywood that you can make powerful visual effects with a low budget.

The fatal flaw I mentioned earlier is the film's third act. While the film's first two acts were strongly written and faithful to the book, the third act ends up being a cliché of other YA adaptations. The chase scenes have terrible shaky-cam, characters make really dumb choices, and the additional stuff that did not appear in the book had its moments, but ultimately were not necessary. If a stronger writer and director were attached, this third act would have been better executed.

Other than the messy third act, I still really enjoyed The Giver. Its performances, strong themes, and beautiful visuals make up for the third act. I really don't understand why critics gave this film a hard time and compared it to other YA adaptations. In my eyes, this film does what other YA adaptations like Twilight and Divergent don't: has a heart, brain, and social commentary that everyone can take away from in the end. If you're a fan of the book, don't listen to the critics and check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Into The Storm Review

A recent trend over the past five years is the rise of found footage movies. Found footage involves handheld cameras showing a larger than life event through the POV of strictly one person or a group of people. These are typically horror films that showcase a group of people experiencing a supernatural event of some sort. However, more different genres have tried the found footage style. Some have worked, like the 2012 superhero film Chronicle. Others not so well, like the 2011 sci-fi film Apollo 18. The most recent entry in the found footage style, Into the Storm, tries mixing the disaster sub-genre with the found footage style. The end result is a fun and unintentionally hilarious 90 minutes that could have benefited from a stronger script.

What really made this film work was the technical aspects. The visual effects are astounding in this film particularly. The storm is very realistic looking and the damage done with the storm makes it look believable. The cinematography helped make the storm sequences even more intense. You get a good glance of it throughout and actually witness the intensity brings very well. Even the few shaky handheld shots in this film worked well in the environment they are used in.

Although the visual and technical aspects were fantastic, you can tell watching this film that the director mainly put his focus towards the effects and not the script. While the actors tried in their roles, anyone could have played them. These characters really have no distinctive personality at all and are very cliché disaster movie characters. Same goes with the plot, other than the storm there is really nothing else interesting throughout the film. Not to mention the script throws elements from other films we've seen thousands of times, such as certain characters' backstories. The film itself is very predictable, but the predictability helps its unintentional humor.

In the end, Into The Storm is an entertaining mixed bag. The star of the film really is the storm itself and it saves the film from complete mediocrity. Although I really do wish that more time was put into the script and characters, I was never bored in its 90 minute span and I do feel that the found footage style is very effective here. Into The Storm is basically a big-budget SyFy channel film: entertaining, short, unintentionally hilarious and fun when nothing else is playing.

Rating: 6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

This past weekend, Marvel Studios' latest Guardians of the Galaxy shattered August box office records and exceeded modest box-office expectations. This is surprising given that this is the studio's first non-sequel property since 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. It is also based off an obscure comic from the company and no one figured how well it would do since it's not a big comic and has no big name stars. Well, after seeing the film I can see why Marvel was not skeptical at all. This is their strongest film in their filmography and this is hopefully the start of a great franchise.

The acting here is truly stellar. Chris Pratt is fantastic as the film's lead, Starlord. He puts his all into his role and you can truly feel for him every step of his journey. Watching Pratt's performance reminds me of Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man performance, there really is no one else who can play this role as wonderfully as him. The rest of the cast does wonderfully also, with specific praise to Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper who steal the show with their voice acting performances.

The film's script is its strongest point though. This script written by director James Gunn and Nicole Perlman combines wacky humor, well done character development, and spectacular sci-fi action sequences. Looking back on the film, this is the first Marvel film in a while that actually delivers a strong message that viewers can reflect on. This is a film about loss and how people can gain their lives back after their loss. This is refreshing given that some of Marvel's recent films (i.e. The Avengers) rely on action scenes and leave the message out.

The visual effects are as stunning as the script. Combining both CGI and practical effects, these help tell the story rather than distract from the plot. All in all, Guardians of the Galaxy is a strong film in the Marvel canon. This is my new personal favorite Marvel film and I hope to see these characters be around for a while. Fresh, funny, and exciting, Guardians of the Galaxy is a must-see and worthy of many rewatches.

Rating: 10/10